Mediaboss Marketing

What is 'Social Networking'

Social networking is the use of internet-based social media programs to make connections with friends, family, classmates, customers and clients. Social networking can occur for social purposes, business purposes or both through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Classmates.com and Yelp. Social networking is also a significant target area for marketers seeking to engage users.

Marketers use social networking for improving conversion rates. Building a following provides access to and interaction with new, recent and old customers. Sharing blog posts, images, videos or comments on social media allows followers to react, visit the companys website and become customers.

Customers may compliment the companys offerings and encourage others to buy the products or services. The more customers are talking about a company on social networking, the more valuable the brand authority becomes. As a brand grows stronger, more sales result.

Increased company posts rank the company higher in search engines. This helps establish a brand as legitimate, credible and trustworthy.

A company may use social networking to demonstrate its customer service level and enrich its relationships with consumers. For example, if a customer complains about a product or service on Twitter, the company may address the issue immediately, apologize, and take action to make it right.

Although social networking itself is free, building and maintaining a company profile takes hours each week. Costs for those hours add up quickly. In addition, businesses need many followers before a social media marketing campaign starts generating a positive return on investment (ROI). For example, submitting a post to 15 followers does not have the same effect as submitting the post to 15,000 followers.

Because every business is unique and has a different target demographic, history and competitive marketplace, no single marketing strategy works for every business. The fact that social networking is constantly evolving also makes keeping up with changes challenging and influences a companys marketing success rate.

Because social networking companies want businesses paying for advertising, companies often restrict the amount of reach businesses may receive through unpaid posts. For example, if a company has 500 followers, followers may not all receive the same post.

Read more from the original source:
Social Networking - Investopedia